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blood donor recruiting

bjohnson

How Incept Can Use Conversational Marketing to Help Your Blood Center Save Lives

Our Strategy

At Incept we follow a listen before you lead approach that puts you and your donors at the center of everything we do. By understanding your objectives, we’re able to customize a strategy that brings donors to you. And by knowing what motivates your donors, we can ensure the right message is delivered every time we have a conversation with them.

Our goal is to listen to the recruitment strategies you currently have in place, analyze the results of those strategies, and recommend future strategies to assist you in meeting the needs of the hospitals and patients you serve. We use Conversational Marketing™ to engage your donors in productive conversations that will drive results. Each year our conversations recruit, retain, re-activate, convert, and appreciate over 2,000,000 blood donors on behalf of the blood centers we serve.

What is Conversational Marketing™?

The core of our strategy focuses on having productive conversations, which we break down into one of five different types of conversations that compliment and/or supplement your current efforts.

Acquire

When our analysis uncovers a need for new donors or groups to meet your goals, we develop conversations that resonate with those that are most likely to respond to a life-saving message. These types of conversations include:

  • Whole Blood Cold Calls
  • Donor Referral
  • Mobile Lead Generation
  • Account Management Support
  • Social Media Management
  • Business to Donor Center/Fixed Site Calling

Appreciate

Everyone likes to be informed and appreciated – these types of conversations are very simple. They usually consist of a short message thanking the donor, wishing them a happy birthday, sharing wellness information, or status updates that keep them engaged and thinking about you. Appreciate conversations can include but aren’t limited to:

  • Cancellation Notifications
  • Post-Donation Thank-You Calls
  • Birthday Emails
  • Social Media Engagement and Interaction

Retain

We understand that your donor base and donor groups are an essential part of your success. By knowing what motivates both, we deliver compelling conversations that inspire meaningful relationships. There are a variety of retain conversation which include:

  • Current Whole Blood Recruitment
  • Automated Messaging Recruitment
  • Appointment Reminder Calls
  • Current Apheresis Recruitment
  • Automated Messaging Reminders
  • SMS/Text Message Reminders
  • Email Recruitment
  • Email Reminders
  • SMS/Text Message Recruitment
  • Social Media Engagement and Interaction

Convert

By creating models based on an individual’s donation history and blood type, we develop strategies to help donors realize their unique value to community patients. Convert type conversations are:

  • Double Red Cell Conversion
  • Platelet Conversion
  • Plasma Conversion
  • Automated Messaging Recruitment
  • SMS/Text Message Reminders
  • Social Media Education

Re-Activate

The number one reason a donor does not come back is because they are not asked. For those donors who would return but don’t, we compliment your current recruiting approach by offering them multiple opportunities to save a life by having conversations with them such as:

  • Lapsed Whole Blood Recruitment (2-4 Years)
  • Super Lapsed Whole Blood Recruitment (5+ Years)
  • Automated Messaging Recruitment
  • Lapsed Apheresis Recruitment
  • SMS/Text Message Reminders
  • Donor Referral Programs
  • Email Recruitment
  • Email Reminders
  • SMS/Text Message Recruitment
  • Social Media Education, Engagement, and Interaction

Bringing It All Together

Our belief that conversations are about building and strengthening a donor’s relationship with your blood center is what sets us apart. By empowering our Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) with knowledge and tools, we ensure your message is delivered in a way that your donors will respond to. By working with you to define goals and objectives, we guarantee our goals, are your goals.

The difference between an Incept conversation and a traditional recruitment call is, instead of reading a scripted request, we encourage our Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) to listen to the donor, acknowledge what the donor is telling them, provide educational statements and information, ask questions (determine the most convenient scheduling times or location, ask about medications, conditions, travel, etc.), and most of all, regardless of the outcome of the call, make sure to leave the donor feeling better about the blood center when the call is over than before you called.

It’s the combination of our listen before you lead approach, a well-balanced strategy featuring the right types of conversations, and the compassion of our Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) that make our methods so effective.

So Now What?

Now that you know a little more about us, and about what Conversational Marketing™ is, we’d like to show you firsthand how we can work with your team to help you reach your goals.

At no charge to you, we’d like to listen to you. And after hearing more about your organization, we’ll provide you with a written strategy that will guide you to industry best practices, increased donations, and reduced costs. If you’re interested in seeing what Incept can do for your organization, click here and let’s talk…results.

Still have questions about what we’re all about or how we could help your organization? Just let us know by clicking the Contact Us option on the right side of our blog.

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Brian

How to Keep the Motivation to Donate Blood

Lately, my car ( a 95′ Camaro Z28, which I lovingly refer to as Xerxes) has been the absolute dirtiest it has ever been.

Oddly enough, if you live in the Ohio area, we are currently experiencing a very relaxed winter when it comes to snowfall and temperature. So as a gear head, this pleases me. There hasn’t been a lot of salt on the roads, nor has there been too much powder to plow through. Even still, Xerxes continues to serve as a magnet for dust, mud, and bird droppings. Occasionally as I glance outside my apartment window to gaze upon the concrete jungle in which I live, I’ll catch the Z28 staring up at me, beckoning me to take it to my parents to wash its fiery, scarlet exterior. And in that moment, when I’m staring right back at it, visualizing how awesome it would look with a fresh coat of wax and almost ready to take it to the quarter wash, all of a sudden I find that the Xbox 360 takes away any desire to clean my car. Motivation for some things in my life is definitely fleeting.

However, in my professional life at Incept, usually my motivation to do well in my job is my source of creativity! Odd how that works, huh? Since one of the biggest things we do at Incept is help blood banks and blood centers around the United States recruit blood donors right there in their communities, whenever the opportunity presents itself to give blood I always try to donate myself.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to practice what I preach as a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME). Like many blood donors in my age range, I started donating blood in high school, and even after I graduated I continued to drop by the occasional community blood drive. Quite honestly, getting out of class and receiving free Chipotle for donating blood were both really good motivators. But it wasn’t until I came to Incept that I found a new source of motivation for being a blood donor.

I have talked with blood donors that have donated over 100 times! I have talked with many elderly blood donors who – even into their golden years at 75 and 80 years old – continue to donate. I have talked with the soccer moms with four or five kids who, despite already having a full to-do list, are able to kindly schedule a blood donation with me at their local grocery store. Even talking with current high school blood donors I have been highly motivated when I see someone so young that has already donated so much. These reasons and more are why I feel like it’s impossible to say no when there is a blood drive at Incept.

How could I say no to giving such a small amount of blood? I could be saving the lives of infants and children, cancer patients, car accident victims, burn victims, sickle-cell patients, or at the very least improving the lives of those people.

I have always known donating blood really does help people out and does save lives, but it was only when I became a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) almost two years ago now that I really heard how significant those impacts really are. Knowing all that I do now about donating blood and talking with so many donors, how and why wouldn’t I be constantly motivated to donate blood when I can? I do it because I believe in the good that comes from donating, and I see that in many other people employed at Incept.

On that note, I think next time I donate blood at my own local center, I’ll be sure to grab a handful of quarters for my z28. The quarter wash is right down the road.

When it comes to life, how do you motivate yourself to do something?

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jfegan

Analyzing Incept: Coaching a Conversational Marketing Expert Part 2

In today’s  post, Jake Fegan shares some of his insights on coaching Conversational Marketing™ Experts and using the LAMA technique.

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Now we want to hear from you.  What is your coaching style?  How does it help your CMEs grow and build stronger relationships with your customers and your customers’ customers?

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heatherp

HOW TO Personalize Your Blood Donor Recruitment Phone Calls

Have you ever heard a fellow Conversational Marketing™ Expert reference someone’s blood type or the amount of donations the donor has given in a phone call? If you have I’m sure you wondered where they got that information. The answer is very simple.

When making Blood Donor Recruitment calls, depending on the program you are calling, you are able to personalize that particular call simply by looking at the donor’s profile. It not only will tell you how many times they have given with that specific Blood Bank but it will tell you there blood type, as well as where they have given in the past and how many points they have for that Blood Centers Donor Loyalty program.

Now let me tell you how you can use that in your calls. The first way to use it, is simply to just thank them for the number of donations they have done in the past and equate that to the number of lives they have helped save. For example if the donor has donated with the Blood Center 11 times, that equals 33 lives saved! The more excited you are about them saving lives, the more it will make them feel appreciated and remember why they donate blood in the first place.

Another way you can use the donor profile is by being one step ahead of the donor. If you look at their donation history and see they typically visit a specific location, change your question to “Would a weekday or weekend work better for you to come back to our ‘insert location name here’?” (This works best if they donate at a fixed site). If they donate at a mobile, get in the habit of checking your drive list to see if we have any thing scheduled to come up at that location.

Now with blood types, if you recall O- being the universal donor, it doesn’t hurt when you have an O- donor on the phone to let them know this. You can do so by saying something along the lines of “I see you’re O-, that means anyone needing a blood transfusion can receive your blood, let’s go ahead and get you scheduled so you can continue to help us save local lives”, and then follow with a trial close. Or if they are one of the other blood types, it doesn’t hurt to throw in the facts of what percentage of the population has their specific blood type and how they can help save the lives of local patients. (O+ = 38%, O- = 7%, A+ = 34%, A- = 6%, B+ = 9%, B- = 2%, AB+ =3%, and AB- = 1%).

Now looking at the Donor Loyalty Programs and the accumulated points there are a few ways you can use this. The best way to use this is to simply let them know how many points they have, how many they will be getting on their next visit (point out things for example like 100pt kept appointment bonus) and then let them know about where they can go to redeem their points. A lot of donors may not be aware that they are even members of these programs, let alone what they can do with their points. So remind them. Take that extra second and really make them your customer.

The best thing you can do in your calls, is to take the time to really be appreciative of blood donors, as well as being efficient and remaining one step ahead of them to deliver the ultimate customer experience.

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jbusto

Analyzing Incept: Managing a Contact Center

How do you manage a Contact Center that focuses on building relationships and having productive conversations. Julia Busto, Director, Contact Center Results, shares some insights on how Incept does it and what makes us so special.

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How does your Contact Center strengthen relationships with your customers and your customers’ customers?

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jhodgson

HOW TO Handle a Blood Donor Recruitment Call with an Upset Donor

It is going to happen. We all run into it…an upset donor!

There will be times when making blood donor recruitment calls where we contact a donor that had a previously poor experience donating, or we unintentionally interrupt a donor right in the middle of their favorite show. Whatever the situation, it is our job as Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) to handle the call properly and do what we can to change the situation for the donor.

Here are some tips on how to accomplish that:

  1. Maintain a friendly tone. Maintaining a friendly tone will prevent the donor from becoming even more upset. This will also make the donor feel at ease and may even make them realize that they sound ridiculous if they raise their voice.
  2. Do not get defensive. Keep in mind that the donor is not personally upset with you, you are just the person that they came in contact with. In most cases, they just want someone to listen to them and feel that their concern is being heard.
  3. Offer a sincere apology. Use empathy, and let the donor know that you are honestly sorry that the situation they are upset about occurred. Tell the donor that you understand their concerns and that you can see why this would upset them. Be very careful not to take their side or say anything that would reflect badly on the client. The best thing to do is remain neutral and apologize.
  4. Offer a resolution. Once the donor has had a chance to voice their concerns, summarize the concern and follow through with another apology. Once you have done this, let the donor know what you can do for them. If it is not something you can handle, let them know that their information will be given to a supervisor.

Using these tips the next time you reach an upset donor will help the call flow a lot better and make the donor feel like their concerns were heard and not ignored.

What additional tips do you have for handling a call with an upset donor?

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Lawrence Prather

The Vast and Varying World of Blood Donor Recruitment

Today’s post is from Conversational Marketing Expert Jeff Wein.

Hi name is Jeff Wein, I am just a Conversational Marketing Expert here at Incept. In the last year that I have been with the company, I have luckily (and proudly) been able to hold the title of Top Lifesaver for four months. I was able to share one blog post back in January, and I just wanted to share a few more tips of the trade.

We all know when it comes down to phone calls, they can get monotonous. We have to strive to break up the monotony. There are several ways that one can do this. I try to make things less repetitious by ensuring each and every phone call is a personalized experience for the donor with whom I’m talking. I do this by actively listening, accompanied with good use of the tools. Really listen to what your donors are telling you; by doing so, it equips you with the ability to custom tailor your responses to the specific situation, which will also reassure your contact that you are listening to them and care about what they have to say.

When I’m touching on a good use of tools, I mean use the donor profiles to their maximum potential. You can really learn a lot about your contact and their habits – like how often, what time they like, and where they like to go. Even with some of the campaigns that offer the point system programs, you can see if they’ve ever gotten anything from the online web store, which can be a conversational piece in itself. For example: “Oh, I see you picked up the gift card to __________. That’s great! Your current point balance is __________. You’re already on your way to your next reward and/or eligible for another!” This is typically going to make the donor ecstatic. If they haven’t heard about it, they probably are going to have a couple of questions for you, so arm yourself with familiarity with the program (i.e., check your F10 screens for promos, program info).

Familiarity will pay off. Oftentimes you may have donors thanking you as you’re getting off the phone. Admit it, that’s a great feeling. If you run into a question you’re not familiar with or not sure of, don’t be afraid to refer them to a main number. They’ll be able to answer any questions they may have.

Another important factor is Tenacity. Without it, well, we’re not really doing our job like we should be, but almost everyone is indecisive. You almost always have to reason with a donor. I don’t think many people just like to say “yes” the first time, so it’s essential to second-attempt your contact because, I mean, just asking that second time may be enough to get them just to throw a time and date out that may be able to work in their schedule. I always try to throw something out there when my contact seems to be “on the fence,” so to speak. In this situation, I’ll just throw out a “It can really help out the center a great deal if we could get you down for a time and day you think will work. Then we’ll have a good handle on what kind of staffing needs we’ll have day for day. And, of course, we can always give you a call back the night before just to ensure that the time and day will work out for you.” I think you may just be surprised even how persuasive that little line can be. I mean, think about it. Your donors are people who already like to help people out or they wouldn’t be donors.

There are different tips and tricks, and all of us could probably go on about for days, but I just wanted a chance to share a few of them with the masses. If you have any questions on how you could/should approach something in a call, and think I could help, just ask or talk to your supervisor or coach! They’re always chock-full of great ideas.

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Stephen Smith

The Vast & Varying World of Blood Donor Recruitment

About the Author: Hi, my name is Jeff Wein. I am a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) here at Incept. Over the last year that I have been with the company, I have proudly held the title of Top Lifesaver for four months. I was able to share one blog post back in January, and I just wanted to share a few tips of the trade from a standpoint of six more months down the road.

We all know when it comes down to phone calls, they can get monotonous. So we have to strive to break up the monotony. I try to make it not so repetitious by making each and every phone call a personalized experience for the donor to whom I’m talking. I do this through active listening, accompanied by good use of the tools provided. Really listen to what your donors are telling you, because doing so equips you with the ability to custom-tailor your responses to the specific situation. This will also reassure your contact that you are listening to them and care about what they have to say.

When I referenced “good use of tools” above, I mean using the donor profiles to their maximum potential. You can really learn a lot about your contact and their habits – like how often, what time, and where they like to go. Even with some of the campaigns that offer point-system programs, you can see if they’ve ever gotten anything from the online web store, which can be a conversational piece in itself. For example:

“Oh, I see you picked up a gift card to ___________. That’s great! Your current point balance is __________. You’re already on your way to your next reward and/or eligible for another!”

This is typically going to make the donor ecstatic. Again, if they haven’t heard about it, they probably are going to have a couple of questions for you, so arm yourself by getting familiar with the program (check your ‘F10′ screens for promos and program info). Familiarity will pay off.

Oftentimes, you may have donors thanking you as you’re getting off the phone. I’ll admit it, that’s a great feeling. If you run into a question you’re not familiar with or not sure of, don’t be afraid to refer them to a main number. They’ll be able to answer any questions they may have.

Another important factor is tenacity. Without it, we’re not really doing our job like we should be. But almost everyone is indecisive at some point. You almost always have to reason with a donor. I don’t think many people just like to say “yes” the first time. So it’s essential that you second-attempt your contact because just asking that second time may be enough to get them to throw a time and date out that may be able to work.

I always try to throw something out there for when my contact seems to be “on the fence,” so to speak. In this situation, I’ll just throw out a “it can really help out the center a great deal just if we could get you down for a time and day you think will work.” Then you have a good handle on what kind of staffing needs will be necessary for a given day. And, of course, it’s important to let potential donors know that CMEs can always give them a call back the night before just to ensure that the time and day will work out. I think you may just be surprised how persuasive that little line can be. I mean, think about it. Your donors are people who already like to help others, or they wouldn’t be donors.

There are different tips and tricks, and all of us could probably go on about for days. Nonetheless, I just wanted to share a few of them with the masses. If you have any questions on how to approach something in a call and think I could help, please just ask. You can also talk to your supervisor or coach; they’re always chockfull of great ideas.

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Stephanie

Interviewing the Incept Way: A Note on Conversations

Interviewing is starting a conversation with someone.

When I heard the word interview, I used to think only of the obvious meaning: dressing up and meeting with a potential employer in hopes of getting a new job. There’s a lot more to it than that.

Interviewing someone is starting a conversation. It’s getting to know them as a person and not just as a resume or a potential client. Here at Incept, we have the privilege of working with blood centers across the country, and each relationship with a client began with an interview.

When a blood center first contacts us to see if we can help them, we like to get to know them personally. I had a chance to sit down with our own interviewing expert, Billie Johnson, to ask her what she looks for when she’s working with a blood center.

Interviewing in person is the best way for Billie to get to know a blood center and identify their needs. By meeting face-to-face, she’s able to talk to them as an actual person and not just as a potential client or faceless file. Our goal is to become partners with the blood center, to care about their clients (the hospitals and patients that need the blood) as much as they do.

Billie says that it’s also important to speak the language. It wouldn’t help anyone if she went into the interview and only discussed right party contacts (RPCs) or used jargon that only made sense to someone who worked at Incept or in the telerecruitment field. By understanding a little about the blood bank industry and speaking the same lingo, she’s able to stay on the same page as the blood center and understand their goals and needs. After all, knowing the difference between an apheresis donation and a whole blood donation is very important!

The next thing Billie focuses on is identifying the areas in which a blood center might need help. In some cases, all that might be needed are thank-you calls or reminders. For other centers, however, it helps to have us call the donors to schedule appointments. Occasionally, a blood center doesn’t need help at all.

Summertime and around the holidays is when blood is needed the most. Fewer people donate at these times, and the amount of blood needed by hospitals increases, so it’s important that blood centers are able to provide their clients with the blood they so desperately need. For some centers, it’s easier to have us call for them during these busier times of the year.

Billie had a great analogy for this type of work: we’re like a faucet. When the holidays or summer approach, blood centers can turn us on, and we’ll be ready to help (in about 48 hours). When things start to go back to normal, and the blood shortages become more manageable, they can turn us off until they need us again.

By letting us make calls for them, the blood centers are able to free up some of their resources. Many centers pay their staff by the hour to make phone calls. Incept bills not by the hour but by the amount of blood that actually makes it into the center. It doesn’t matter if it takes an hour or three hours to get a donor to come in and donate successfully, the blood center only has to pay for the blood that actually comes in. This helps the center reduce the amount they have to spend to get the same results and frees up more of their resources to do what they do best: collect blood.

By working with us, blood centers are better able to reach out to their donors for their support. After all, working with blood centers and blood donors is what we do best here at Incept. We’re Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) for a reason. So give us a call, and see what Incept can do for you. We’d love to put your clients first.

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meredith

The Importance of Being Objective During an Interview

Is the sky orange-yellow or yellow-orange?

Billie Johnson, Vice President of New Client Results at Incept, interviews blood banks to see if they would like to become partners.

She assesses their strengths, weaknesses and needs in a face-to-face roundtable discussion and interview, known as Incept Listen. One of the many things Billie has to keep in mind during the interview is remaining objective.

Objectivity can be defined as being “undistorted by emotion or personal bias.” Being objective is especially important for honest business practices, and there are five ways to remain objective in discussions like the ones Billie facilitates:

  1. Don’t assume. Everyone’s situation and opinion is different. Remember, even in a business situation, not every customer’s need is the same.
  2. Keep an open mind. You may be the one conducting the interview, but that doesn’t mean that the other people around the table don’t have better ideas than you.
  3. Don’t expect everyone to agree with you. The sky could look orange-yellow to you and yellow-orange to someone else. It doesn’t mean either of your opinions are wrong, just different. Even in business, you can’t please everyone.
  4. Remember that you’re evaluating facts. You’re not evaluating your emotional reactions to said facts or to the people giving you the information.
  5. Be honest. If a blood bank is doing so well that there’s nothing Incept can offer, Billie is honest about that in her recommendations. She doesn’t try to sell something that they don’t need.

That fifth practice is what makes Incept unique! Many businesses will try to push their product, regardless of the need. How many businesses do you know that are willing to admit that their services aren’t needed?

Do you think that it is important to be objective?

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Feathered Monkey Art http://www.featheredmonkey.com/gallery_main.shtml

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